Numbers adding up for Agassi

Andre Agassi recalled career win number one on Sunday shortly after putting away victim number 700 Roger Federer to collect his 51st career ...

Andre Agassi recalled career win number one on Sunday shortly after putting away victim number 700 Roger Federer to collect his 51st career title at the Nasdaq-100 Open Masters.

8220;John Austin, 6-4, 6-4, clubhouse court, La Quinta California,8221; said Agassi as if the match were yesterday. 8220;He was up a break the first set 4-1, and I started junking him8230;moving him around. It was 1985, I was 15.8221;

Next month Agassi will turn 32 but the Las Vegas showman8217;s act is looking anything but old and tired, especially after he brushed aside Swiss Federer, 10 years his junior, 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 under a sweltering South Florida sun.

The title victory was Agassi8217;s fifth in 16 visits to the Miami hardcourts and the American promised his adoring supporters he would be back to defend his crown next year.

When Agassi lifted his first Miami Masters title he was the long-haired wild child of men8217;s tennis dressed in anti-establishment florescent tights.

On Sunday, Agassi was bald and business-like, his rebelliousness now limited to black tennis shoes and shorts.

Like the Miami tournament which has undergone many changes, including three different names Lipton, Ericsson and Nasdaq-100, so has Agassi.

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His tabloid life and marriage to actress Brooke Shields is in the past. Remarried to tennis legend Steffi Graf and the new father of a baby boy, Agassi8217;s thoughts are only of the future and happily juggling a family and career.

One of only five men to win all four Grand Slams, Agassi has amassed 51 titles and millions of dollars in what has been an intriguing 17-year career. Yet, despite his Hall of Fame credentials, Agassi says he steps onto the court for each match still believing he has something to prove.

8220;I feel like I have to prove myself everyday,8221; he said. 8220;It8217;s just the way I go about business.

8220;You keep working, you keep plugging away, you keep getting better. As you get older you have a greater capacity to appreciate everything. 8220;These moments aren8217;t promised. They don8217;t come along all the time. Who knows if it will ever happen again? I think the older I get the more I keep that in perspective.8221;

Reuters